Sara Van Slyke, LMHC

Sara Van Slyke is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) with 13 years of professional experience. She focuses on practical help for people facing stress, anxiety, depression, and addictions. Sara emphasizes working with each person’s strengths and values as the basis for change.

Sara believes clients know their own story and brings a respectful, down-to-earth style to sessions. She helps people tackle motivation, self-esteem, and confidence issues by breaking problems into manageable steps. She also supports people navigating relationship strain, parenting challenges, grief, and life transitions.

Her approach draws on several well-known methods to match what a person needs. She uses client-centered work to build a trusting connection, cognitive behavioral techniques to change unhelpful thinking patterns, and dialectical behavior ideas to teach coping skills. Mindfulness and existential ideas may also appear when they fit the client’s concerns.

Sara has experience addressing trauma and abuse, eating and intimacy-related issues, anger, career concerns, bipolar disorder, and ADHD. Her work is practical and collaborative, focused on what a person wants to change and how to move toward those goals.

People who choose Sara can expect straightforward sessions that prioritize clear goals and doable steps. She encourages small changes that add up over time and helps clients notice their progress along the way.

How her approaches translate to online work

Sara uses client-centered work and cognitive behavioral approaches in ways that adapt well to online sessions. Client-centered therapy focuses on listening, empathy, and building a collaborative relationship so clients feel heard and supported. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) involves identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors, often with practical exercises between meetings.

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills are also part of her toolbox when people need stronger emotion regulation and distress tolerance techniques. These skills are taught with clear instructions and practice, which can be reviewed and adjusted together during sessions. Finding the right mix of methods is part of the process, and Sara will work with each person to choose what fits their goals and preferences.

Session formats are not specified in the biography, so confirm the available options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life, for example by reducing travel time, allowing a shorter check-in during a break, or removing the need to be on camera for every session. Licensed professionals can use a variety of ways to meet; discuss practical needs during the initial match to find the best arrangement.